


and indeed there will be time

by lavenderlotion



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Charles Xavier has a Ph.D in Adorable, Established Relationship, Fix-It, M/M, Not X-Men: First Class Compliant, Protective Charles Xavier, Protective Erik Lehnsherr, Telepathic Bond, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:07:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21572725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lavenderlotion/pseuds/lavenderlotion
Summary: Now, the children they had gathered so conveniently were being attacked by the man who had ripped apart Erik’s life so many years ago. He never wanted to be a soldier, but he could not let harm come to those who had trusted him enough to follow in his cause.
Relationships: Armando Muñoz/Alex Summers, Azazel (X-Men)/Janos Quested, Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Comments: 22
Kudos: 150
Collections: Secret Mutant Madness 2019





	and indeed there will be time

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by [milosdinosaur](https://archiveofourown.org/users/milosdinosaur/pseuds/milosdinosaur) in the [secret_mutant_madness_2019](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/secret_mutant_madness_2019) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
> "Something's not right."
> 
> Can be any relationship, and have as many (or few) characters as you want

The grass was damp under his stomach despite his heavy coat. It grated on his senses and stole part of his concentration, and it was what he registered most prominently while watching the helicopter that housed Shaw’s telepath land. Charles was already in the pilot’s mind and felt himself frowning as nothing he learned would help them. 

He would not lie and say this mission had been comfortable for him. Charles was used to a life of material comforts. It was one of the many things that made himself and Erik so very different from one another. Working with the CIA was  _ exciting _ in a way that not much in Charles’ life had ever been, and working with Erik...well, that was exhilarating for a large number of different reasons. 

Charles did his best to stay still even as he grew colder. Charles wished that it was Erik beside him; he knew just how warm the other man tended to run. Instead, he was forced to work between two people that still felt like strangers. Moira was very nice and very accepting of their kind, but she was not a mutant. 

He watched Shaw’s telepath step out of the helicopter with a growing sense of unease. He wasn’t quite sure  _ what _ was making his stomach turn, but he did not like the feeling of his worry. which continued to grow even as the helicopter took back off. 

“Where’s Shaw?” Erik demanded. His anger was clear in his voice and clearer still through Charles’ awareness of him. He tried to push along a calming thought, but he was too anxious for it to do much good. 

“I don’t know,” he muttered, mind whirling. “She’s a telepath. If I read her, she’ll know we’re here...” Charles trailed off, watching at a distance as the woman walked confidently towards the sprawling house. A thought struck and he muttered, “Hang out, let me try something else.”

Charles freed his arm so he could press two of his fingers to his temple. It was a trick that always helped him hone his concentration. It acted as a tuner and helped to filter out all the static that was forever in his mind. Now, it was invaluable as he pushed his awareness across the vast field until he could hear the whisper of the soldier’s thoughts. 

He caught onto the man’s arousal, which was unfortunately what the man was feeling most strongly at the moment. From there, it was far easier to pull himself into the man’s mind and invade his consciousness. Accessing his sight took two long breaths but then...Charles’ eyes widened as the expanse of grass and a very large home was replaced by the telepath walking up the front steps. Charles watched through the eyes of another as she greeted the Soviet General. 

“Shaw sends his apologies, but he’s indisposed. He asked me to come in his place, and between you and I honey, I’m a lot better company.” Her voice was sugar sweet and sticky with manipulation. Charles found the coy tone grated on his senses as it echoed through the soldier’s ears and back into his own. 

“Please come in,” the General told her with an interested smile. Charles had to hand it to her—her seduction was well planned and effective. Perhaps even he would have been interested, once upon a time. 

Charles watched them walk away before he retreated from the soldier’s mind. He shook his head, “He’s not coming.” Goddammit, this could not be going any worse. Charles shuffled onto his side to look at Moira as he asked, “So what now, boss?”

“Now nothing. We’re here for Shaw, mission aborted,” she told them, already beginning to move. 

“The hell it is,” Eric growled. His rage was overwhelming, and for a moment Charles felt it as though it were his own before managing to separate their minds once more. “She’s his right-hand woman, that’s good enough for me,” he spat when Moira tried to stop him. 

Erik moved again and Moira began to speak, but Charles paid her no attention as something...settled in his mind that he did not like. 

“Something’s not right,” he said fiercely, not apologizing for cutting Moira off and instead pushed the unease crawling inside his chest towards Erik with all of his might. He looked his friend in the eye and pleaded, “Erik, please.”

There was a long pause in which Charles felt fear crawl up his belly and make itself at home around his heart. He was certain that Erik was not going to stop, that he was going to be so consumed by his blood lust that he would ignore the growing terror that Charles was pushing into his mind and continue on his path for revenge. 

Luckily, that did not happen. Erik punched the ground hard enough that he displaced a chunk of grass and swore quite vividly. Charles raised himself onto his knees so he could reach over and wrap his fingers tightly around Erik’s strong forearm. “Erik...I don’t know what it is, but I am worried.”

“I know, Charles,” Erik’s mind brushed comfortingly against his own and the tension that had been growing in Charles’ body slid out of him. He slumped back onto his behind and took a deep breath. He was able to let go of Erik’s arm, and he looked down at Moira with heavy eyes. “We need to get back to the base. Right now.”

* * *

The car was not moving fast enough. Charles’ knee was bouncing erratically in his seat but he could not stop the nervous movement. His unease had only grown during the entire flight back to America, and he knew that he was projecting strongly enough to put the other’s on edge, but he could not stop. Shaw not being there was  _ wrong, _ and that knowledge was causing Charles’ worry to worsen. 

“Erik,” Charles said tightly, clenching his hand around the meat of Erik’s thigh. “I need you to move this thing faster.”

Erik spared him a quick glance, and Charles saw the way his mouth twitched into a grin as he said, “Are you sure, my friend?”

Charles did not spare him his words. Rather, he pushed the anxious knot of unease that had long ago settled right under his heart at Erik, and the other man’s smile fell. He covered Charles’ hand with his own and Moira said nothing, as if she saw nothing from her place in the back seat (she hadn’t even protested Erik driving, not when Charles suggested it). 

A moment later, their tires were lifted from the ground and into the air. 

There was something breathtaking about  _ feeling _ Erik use his mutation. Charles was not within his mind but they were connected closely enough that he could feel the ever-present awareness Erik had of metal—it was similar to Charles’ low-level awareness of other’s minds, but simultaneously felt nothing like it. 

Erik’s elation was similar to his own. Despite the worry so close to his heart, he could not keep down his grin as they began to gain speed, ghosting above the packed road and moving much faster than the engine could have ever carried them. His window was open just a crack as the wind whistled through it. The CIA base was on the end of a long stretch of road and Erik made a fifteen-minute drive in three. 

It was clear that something was wrong the moment Erik touched the tires back to the ground outside the facility. The panic and terror were so very strong that Charles had to put up a shield around his awareness in order to not succumb to their strength. Moira’s gasp from the back seat was enough to draw the rest of his attention to the present, and he watched as she opened her door and carefully walked towards the lifeless body lying along the sidewalk. 

_ Goddammit, _ Charles swore strongly enough that Erik jerked.  _ I’m sorry. _

_ It’s alright, _ Erik’s voice within his mind was not something Charles thought he would ever get used to. Not even Raven had ever been so comfortable with his gift as to initiate contact as Erik had done but...neither had he and Raven ever been as close and he was with Erik. 

Their road trip had kept them in incredibly close quarters. There had been many nights where a motel had only one bed—and then there were many nights more they did not bother to request a second. Charles knew Erik in a way he had only ever  _ dreamt _ of knowing another, and still, he counted himself lucky each day Erik chose to still know him in such a way. 

_We’ll be okay,_ Erik told him. He was so _sure_ that Charles found his next breath coming easier and he could not stop himself from leaning over and taking a kiss. He did not want to think that it may be his last chance to do so, but as their lips moved together with a gentleness that was not often present between them, he rather thought Erik thought the same as he. 

Charles did not open his eyes until he was back in his seat and could not feel Erik’s breath against his lips. “Alright, my friend,” Charles said with a note of warmth that seemed contradictory to the destruction they were bound to face. “We’ll be okay.”

Erik smiled at him and opened his mouth, but his words were interrupted by a shrill scream. Charles whipped his head around and wasted not a moment before he was within Moira’s mind and replaying what she had just seen. “Goddammit,” he swore again, quickly getting out of the car and calling back to Erik, “They’re using a teleporter to drop agents from the sky!”

They exited the car at the same moment. Moira was standing beside the body of what had to be one of her coworkers. Charles had already seen the sorry state of the corpse through Moira’s eyes, and didn’t bother to spare it another glance. 

“Give me a moment while I...” Charles trailed off as he focused his mutation. There were so many strongly projected emotions to sort through that it took him a longer time than he would have liked to find what he needed. The teleporter’s mind was smokey, but Charles lurched forward and—

“What the hell was that?” he spat vocally, stumbling a step back into Erik’s warm bulk when the mind he was about to grab hold of  _ disappeared. _ With a growl, Charles raised two fingers to his temple and trusted Erik to keep him safe as he pushed forward again. This time, the moment he locked onto the mutant he lurched forward with both hands that...slipped through the air as if the consciousness he had felt mere seconds ago was nothing but smoke. 

“No I...no. I can’t get a lock on him,” Charles growled as anger pulsed through him. He turned in Erik’s hold—he had not noticed that Erik had wrapped him in his arms but he did not try to move away—and met his eyes worriedly. “I cannot get a lock on him. I believe it might be his mutation, but his thoughts are...clouded. And he is moving far too quickly for me to keep up.”

“It’s alright,” Erik told him softly, though he closed his eyes as another distant scream sounded out. Now that Charles was no longer chasing after the mutant’s mind, he could no longer ignore the screaming himself, and he felt his face twisting into a heavy grimace.

“We need to do something!” Moira shouted, far too loudly for Charles’ peace of mind. He was not sure if he would be able to stop the teleporter should he choose one of them, and he did not need Moira calling his attention straight to them. 

Erik gave him a look that Charles was able to read without feeling his mind, and he lowered his head even as he nodded. A moment later, Moira was walking towards the car and climbing inside the back seat before she folded herself up and hid on the floor. Charles pressed against her mind even harder to ensure the command would stick. 

With a heavy sigh, Charles pulled himself from her mind and rested his forehead against Erik’s cheek. “We need to move now. I can feel them, Erik, and...the children are terrified.”

Erik’s face hardened, and his words were laced with threat as he said, “Alright, but we need to be careful. All we have at the moment is the element of surprise. We cannot lose that.”

“Erik,” Charles sighed heavily, but the man was right. As much as Charles wanted to rush to the children, they couldn’t. Not when they had no idea what they were facing. “Alright. I can cover us as we make our way through the facility, but it will require considerable concentration to keep us from being seen by the teleporter.”

“I will keep you safe,” Erik’s words were a promise that he sealed with a kiss brushed over Charles’ temple. He nodded and took another moment of comfort from the warmth of Erik’s body—he was a mutant, yes, but he was a  _ professor _ and he had never intended on going to war. He had decided to help Moira because it was the right thing to do and Charles wanted to believe in a future where they could be open,  _ mutant and proud, _ and he was certain that working with the government was a step in that direction. 

Now, the children they had gathered so conveniently were being attacked by the man who had ripped apart Erik’s life so many years ago. He never wanted to be a soldier, but he could not let harm come to those who had trusted him enough to follow in his cause. With a breath, Charles focused his mind and layered over them a heavy illusion that spread out like a silk web as they began to move. Charles tucked his hand into the crook of Erik’s arm and found he felt rather like a decked out fox on the arm of her hunk. 

Erik certainly fit the bill, at the very least. Charles’ mind could do a great many things, and he found that while holding the illusion took a large amount of his concentration, it did not take all. With the bit of mind he had left, he forced his power outside himself and honed in on the ever-familiar feel of his sister’s thoughts. 

She was terrified, though Charles dared not calm her lest that alert their attackers. From what she had seen he was able to tell the teleporter was a demon-like creature who even had a tail. Charles took a moment to push his likeness into Erik’s mind before he went back to Raven’s memories. There was another mutant with them, there  _ had _ to be, and Charles swept into Hank’s mind to get a better view of what had destroyed Cerebro. 

_ They have the one who can make tornadoes, _ Charles pushed, and then his entire body locked up as he saw Shaw appear through Hank’s eyes. Charles linked his mind with Erik so the other man could feel it too, which meant that he felt the unadulterated rage as it rose up and flared brightly along Erik’s mind.  _ Calm, my friend. You said it yourself, we need to maintain our surprise. _

Erik grumbled, but he did not argue. He moved them forward through the compound efficiently until they were upon the room the children were in. Charles tugged on Erik’s elbow to pull him to a stop. He watched Shaw address the group through Hank’s eyes and Charles could not help the protective fury that arose at this vile man trying to recruit his children. 

Charles slipped into Angel’s mind when she took Shaw’s hand. She was so desperate and so very afraid. For such a young woman, she had been through a number of terrible things, and Charles’ heart ached for her. He did not begrudge her of her choice to go with Shaw given what she knew of the circumstances. 

_ Erik, _ he thought, not sure what he wanted to say but feeling as though he needed to tell the other man something urgently. Erik nodded, and he pushed along their bond an affection that Charles knew would rock him later, when he had time to process what it meant that Erik cared for him so deeply. 

With a heavy breath, Charles used his mutation to map out the room the children were in. Shaw and his two mutants—the teleporter was much easier to grasp while he was holding still, but his mind still felt as though it were covered in a heavy layer of fog—were with Angel, standing in the courtyard. 

Something strong caught his attention, and Charles lessened his shields so he could focus on what Alex was emoting.  _ Oh, the poor boy, _ Charles let slip to Erik, feeling the conflicted mess of Alex’s feelings for Darwin. It was as the older man was turning around that Charles decided to act. His connection with Erik, a bright warmth running along the edge of his consciousness, kept the other man in the loop, and they moved as one. 

The wall in front of them tore apart under Erik’s mutation. Many of the conjoining walls were metal, and the partition split apart without so much as a broken sweat. Charles was only peripherally aware of Erik using thin ropes of metal to incapacitate the two mutants working with Shaw, though he was far busier with entering Shaw’s mind. 

Charles had only ever completely taken over someone’s mind once before. It was a memory he rather wished he could erase. This felt much like it had then: wrong in a way that made his skin feel like it was stretched too tightly over his bones as his mutation rumbled through his mind in places it usually kept silent. 

The moment Charles was inside, he wished he had stayed out. Shaw’s mind was a horribly vile place that raised the hairs along Charles’ arms and the back of his neck. He staggered forward as a wave of aggression pushed against his own mind, and he focused himself solely on the task at hand when Shaw’s consciousness seemed to expand as Charles tried to hold it under his grasp. 

Suddenly, Charles was knocked aside by blinding pain. His mind lit up as though he were  _ inside _ an explosion, and he instinctively flinched back and covered his eyes. By the time he had blinked the aftershocks of light out of his eyes and breathed through the heavy wave of pain, Shaw had managed to get away and the grass around him was horribly burnt. There was a large piece of metal floating in the air before him, and Charles whirled around when he heard a whimper behind him. 

He reached out with his mind to check on Erik and the children even as he approached the two mutants Shaw had been working with. They were laid out on the ground, and it only took the lightest probe to see the memory of Erik tossing them to safety as Shaw’s entire body light up with a power none of them had known about. 

The mutants were no longer held tight with strips of metal. It seemed Erik had lost focus on that as he covered them and the children—who were terrified, but thankfully were all still alive—with sheets of metal, and the restraints had fallen away after Erik had thrown them through the air to keep them safe. Charles watched as the demon was consumed by an internal fire and disappeared in a puff of smoke, only to reappear beside the other mutant and begin looking him over. 

Charles went to say something but was distracted by the loud crash of the metal Erik had used to shield them dropping to the ground. His mind was a tangled web of emotions that Charles did not have the ability to sort out with how sore his mind felt from Shaw’s blast. Clearly, Shaw’s mutation was complex, seeing as Charles had felt the energy he’d dispersed through his mind even as it tore out of him physically. 

_ He’s a mutant! Charles, all this time and he’s... _ Erik’s mind trailed off into a near encompassing fury as he stalked across the grass to come stand in front of him. Charles did the first thing he thought of and placed his hand against Erik’s jaw to bring their eyes together, and he pushed as much reassurance along to Erik as he was capable in the moment. 

_ We will do this together, dear friend.  _ You are not alone,” the words echoed through their bond as well as through the courtyard as Charles called them out. “Are you all right?”

A chorus of agreements sounded out from the group. As horrible the event they had all just witnessed was, it seemed to have momentarily brought them closer together. Even Angel was huddled with Raven behind the boys. 

“I am so terribly sorry for the danger that you have been placed in,” Charles announced, and he had to work past a lump in his throat as he said, “We’ll take you home, don’t worry.”

“Fuck that,” Alex announced aggressively. “We sure as hell aren’t going home after that shit.”

“Yeah, and he’s not going back to jail,” Sean piped in, and in that moment Charles saw them for what they could all one day be: a family. 

It was with a heavy sigh that felt like  _ hope _ Charles relented. “Very well, but we cannot stay here.”

Raven pushed a thought into his mind, and Charles’ grin widened as he nodded. His little sister clapped her hands together excitedly, though Charles knew she still felt heavy with terror. “We have somewhere we can all stay!”

“All?” The red mutant’s voice seemed to draw all noise from the air. The slow-growing ease was replaced by a stillness that was tight with tension. Charles turned from Erik to meet the mutant’s eyes and found it much easier to get a read on him now. There was so much pain in just a brief reading that Charles knew immediately he would be welcome among them, if only because Charles had the terrible habit of taking in lost, hurt creatures and trying to help them find comfort. 

“If you choose to stand among us, you will have a place with us,” Erik’s voice was sure, and his words echoed the sentiment Charles had just been thinking. He wondered if it was the bond their minds shared, unlike  _ anything _ Charles had ever felt and made stronger by the way Erik never shied away from it. Before Charles could agree, Sean spoke up from where they had huddled themselves together by the broken window. 

“No way man! You just killed, like,  _ everyone!”  _ Sean’s voice rose in pitch until it was high enough for them all to wince. 

Azazel, as Charles had found his name to be, did not take his eyes off Charles. He had to wonder if it was because he was a telepath. Charles didn’t bother to read the man any deeper than a brief glance at his surface thoughts. 

“Why did you save us?” Azazel's voice was thick with something Charles couldn't name but could easily read as fear. Azazel addressed him even though it had been Erik who had thrown them to safety, and Charles found that most interesting. He watched as blue eyes cut to Janos with a level of concern that Charles recognized, and let his own trail over to Erik. He didn’t need his telepathy to read that look. 

“We do not harm our own kind,” Charles said plainly, and he projected how it had felt, merely minutes earlier, when Erik had kissed him in the car.

“We are family,” Erik declared readily, and Charles felt his heart swell when their eyes met.  _ That _ was what Charles had seen. That was the hope that was building within his chest. “And if you would like, there is a place for you beside us.”

Charles’ smile grew as he watched Azazel watch him. The mutant’s eyes saw so very much. Charles had to wonder if it was a facet of his mutation or if it was just a hard life long-lived that allowed him to read their intent, as it was clear that was what he was doing. 

Finally, he made up his mind and he held out his hand. There was a tense moment and then Janos, the mutant who could seemingly control the air, was taking it within his own to twine their fingers together. Charles could tell how much this meant to both of them without having to hear their thoughts, but their elation was a nice echo through Charles’ mind as he watched them smile at one another. 

“Glad I’m not the only coloured queer around here,” Darwin called out happily, crossing across the courtyard and exchanging an awkward handshake with Azazel and a nod with Janos. Charles felt a heavy pulse of interest come from Alex, though it was wrapped tightly around confusion. He gave the younger man a look and did not take offence when he quickly looked away. 

Charles focused for a brief moment and then announced. “Moira is on her way. We are the only ones left in the compound. You should gather your belongings, and we’ll meet at the front entrance as quickly as we can. I will be very glad to leave this place.”

“I think that is the very best idea you’ve ever had, my friend,” Erik told him fondly. Charles allowed the dig if only for the broken tension, and he spared Erik a rather gentle smile as they both took a deep breath to the chorus of the children's chuckles. 

**Author's Note:**

> comments and kudos are much appreciated!


End file.
